Coronavirus: Sick Pay Rebate Scheme Opens 26 May…
One of the longer acronyms emerging from the raft of new legislation to support businesses through the coronavirus pandemic, the CSSPRS, or Coronavirus Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme, will be going live in the next week.
Claims are to be made through the CSSPRS online portal, which opens on 26 May.
HMRC have said that ‘digitally excluded employers’ will still be able to claim in an alternative manner, although details are not yet clear.
Separately to this scheme, SSP was expanded from 13 March such that SSP payment could be made to employees from the first day of illness (no waiting days applied) where coronavirus related.
Eligibility
An employer must have had fewer than 250 members of staff (regardless of hours worked) on its PAYE payroll on 28 February 2020. Consideration may be required as to this limit if more one employer is ‘connected’ to another.
From the period starting 13 March, there must be one or more employees who were eligible for SSP because of Covid-19.
Firms who, as of 31 December 2019, were in insolvency or receiving rescue aid will not be eligible.
How much can be reclaimed?
The CSSPRS is designed to help fund the cost of the first two weeks of SSP.
That amounts to £191.70 at the current SSP rate of £95.85 per week. The rate was £94.25 per week for periods before 5 April 2020.
How to Claim?
Employers can claim by logging into their individual Government Gateway PAYE for employers account and will need:
– Their PAYE scheme reference number
– UK bank or building society details to receive repayment
– Total amount of coronavirus SSP paid for the claim period;
– Number of employees being claimed for
– Start date and end date of the claim period.
It is anticipated that, where an accountant is appointed, claims can be made by the accountant on behalf of the client. This is yet to be confirmed with full details not currently available.
More Information
More guidance is available from HMRC here: www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-back-statutory-sick-pay-paid-to-employees-due-to-coronavirus-covid-19
It’s worth also mentioning that formally the CSSPRS falls within the remit of the EU’s Temporary State Aid Framework, so employers may also need to consider if this will put them over any applicable State Aid limits.